Page 12 of Embraced at Seaside
IT WASN’T THE words Jana said that sent him into action—although he loved hearing his favorite request coming from her. It was the look in her eyes the moment before she’d said them, a look of trust that stirred something deep inside him. And made him realize, maybe for the first time ever, that the thundering in his chest was coming from his heart. His heart had never come into play with women before, and it took him a moment to process that and finally move past it and regain his momentum.
He loved being with Jana, seeing the desire in her eyes, and knowing it was all for him.
At least tonight.
That thought usually didn’t bother him, but now his gut twisted with it.
As he carried her into the bedroom and made love to her, he bit back the urge to tell her that he hated thinking about her with other guys. That was too weird. Too foreign.Too much.He wanted to love her until she wasn’t able to remember ever being with another man.
He told himself she was with him now, and that should be all that mattered.The here and now.But the lines he’d always drawn in the sand blurred.
They lay together afterward, and he gathered her in his arms. “I’ve got you,” he whispered, his heart making itself known again with fast thumps and a tightening in his chest.
He held her for a long time, brushing her hair from her cheeks, stroking her arms to ease the ache he was sure she felt from holding him too tight. Cradling her against him, he tried to make sense of the unfamiliar emotions washing through him. Gone was the urge to roll away from her and fall asleep, or leave. He wanted to sit right there, holding her until she had her strength back, until he was sure she was okay.
And that rattled him to his core.
“We’re supposed to be at the bonfire,” she said softly against his chest.
Part of him wanted to cling to that excuse, wash up and get out of there, but a bigger part of him wanted to stay right there holding her. Which was exactly why heneededto force himself to move.
“We missed the sunset, but we can still make the bonfire,” he said, reluctantly setting her beside him on the bed in the dark room. She looked sweet with the sexy afterglow pinking up her cheeks and the hazy look of a satiated lover lingering in her eyes.Aw, man.She had that trusting look in her eyes again, too.
With a groan he pushed to his feet. “I’m going to wash up.”
He stalked into the bathroom and took a cold shower. When he came out with a towel wrapped around his waist, he expected to find Jana clothed and moving around, but she was sitting on the edge of the bed looking tired and sweet.
His heart did thatnotice mething again.
“Come on, pretty girl.” The tenderness in his voice was new, too. What was she doing to him? “You need to get cleaned up so we can go.” He pulled her upright.
She pressed her hands against his chest, and after smiling sleepily up at him, she rested her cheek against his skin and said, “You shaved.”
His heart beat a little harder.
“And showered. Twice.” He didn’t mean to sound so rough, but she was talking all mushy-voiced with him, and that wasn’t Jana. Jana was snappy and fierce, not sensitive or the kind of girl who noticed things like whether he’d shaved. He liked that she noticed, but he hated the way it made his insides go soft.
He took her by the shoulders and turned her toward the bathroom, then smacked her butt. “Go on. Get in there or I’ll climb in there with you and we’ll never get out of here.”
“Just like a man,” she said with a little more energy as she sauntered toward the bathroom, looking devastatingly tempting. “Promise me sunsets and give me pleasure instead.”
FORTY MINUTES LATER Jana and Hunter pulled up in front of Pete and Jenna’s house. She’d hoped that the ride over would help clear her head, but the rumbling of the motorcycle between her legs only reminded her of Hunter making her feel all sorts of wonderful. When she was showering and dressing, she’d gone through a bevy of emotions, from curiosity—she was dying to know what other tricks Hunter had up his sleeve—to feeling way too many positive emotions toward him. He’d been sweet and careful with her after they’d had sex. He’d never done that before. Usually they either parted ways without a word, or they fell asleep without touching and she snuck out, as she had the other morning.
She liked that softer side of him. She always knew he had a caring side. He was protective of Sky, and he always seemed to be asking after her, or touching base with one of his brothers, but she’d never seen him that way with any other woman. Not that she’d ever seen him with the same woman twice, and that didn’t escape her mind either. They’d been together too many times already, hadn’t they? Too many for both of them.
And then there was the anger that laced her every thought for giving in to her desires. Anger at herself for wilting beneath his heat and anger athimfor kissing her in the first place, and for looking so hot that it was impossible for her to deny him. He’d evenshaved, not to mention the cologne. She’d hoped the cool night air whisking across her skin on the ride over might quell her reaction to him, but as Hunter helped her from the bike, looking every bit as sinful as he did when he’d first arrived at her door, she felt renewed lust simmering inside her.
He lifted her helmet off her head and ran his finger over her hair. “I like your braid.” He grabbed hold of her thick plait and gave it a little tug. “Should have thought of that earlier.”
“Geez, you’re such a—”
He smirked as he draped an arm over her shoulder. “Come on, pretty girl. Blink away that desire in your eyes, or they’ll know you want me.”
“Ugh!I don’t want you,” she said as they walked past the house and across the dune. She couldn’t even fool herself. How would she fool anyone else? A breeze swept off the bay, and she shivered. He drew her closer, and as big and warm as he was, she tried to push away, because that’s what they did, wasn’t it? They didn’t snuggle. But he held on tight, and heaven help her, she loved it.
“That’s not what you were saying an hour ago. I seem to remember the wordsmoreandyescoming out of your mouth several times.”
“Shut up and take your arm off of me. I thought you didn’t want people to see—” She let the sentence hang in the space between them.
